Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa

3 reviews

cath_reads_books's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was a wild ride! I think it’s my favorite of Amanda Jayatissa’s so far. 

The story follows Paloma, a Sri Lankan orphan, who is adopted by the Evans couple and moved to the United States. There’s clearly something in Paloma’s past that haunts her; she has a terrible relationship with her adoptive parents, she drinks on medication that have interactions with alcohol, and she doesn’t seem to have any real friends. She also judges every person she comes across extremely harshly, as though she’s the best person on the planet, when in reality she’s an absolute asshole. She’s also extremely manipulative and conniving, and will do anything to keep herself in a good position. I found myself wondering many times if she was legitimately a psychopath. 

The book goes back-and-forth between telling the story of present day Paloma and young Paloma living at the Sri Lankan orphanage.

As I continued to hear more of the experiences about the orphanage, I started to suspect that Paloma wasn’t really Paloma at all, but instead was a close childhood friend posing as her to get their shot at a better life. By the end of the book I found out that this was absolutely the case. 

What I didn’t expect was that the real Paloma was still alive and had planned on elaborate revenge scheme to try to take her place back from the pretender. The REAL Paloma was even more insane than the pretend one too, and layered on her own schemes to make the pretend Paloma look unhinged. The last few chapters of this book were beyond intense, and I had no idea which Paloma I was actually reading about for a while there. The last chapter had me grinning ear to ear when I figured it out.

4.25 of 5 stars from me! Top-notch writing with an insane cat and mouse game between two psychopaths lol. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Vomit, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The plot of this book is compelling and finding out what happened in Sri Lanka that led Paloma to the life she has in California drove my desire to keep reading. That said, Paloma is very, very unlikeable. So detestable that had it not been for an intriguing plot, I probably wouldn’t have finished the book. She treats everyone like garbage and is only concerned about herself. There is no growth or change over the course of the novel. She’s just mean. The twists and turns of the novel do, in some ways, make up for the faults of the protagonist though. All in all, it was a fun read that kept me on my toes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Car accident, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death of parent, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

ohhthehorrors's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Stalking